Unit 8 Title

Title is the name of a story or poem.

The functions the title of a literary work may perform:

• singles out the given work, makes it different from other stories and poems;

• puts the most relevant character or events in the focus of the reader’s attention;

• characterizes the protagonist;

• introduces the story’s theme;

• being a means of foreshadowing, orientates the reader towards the story;

• disorientates the reader when it contrasts with the story and acquires an ironic ring;

• becomes a symbol;

• captures the essence of the literary work, links to its themes and concerns.

When do we interpret titles?

Although the title of a story or poem is the first thing that catches the reader’s eye, we usually learn its real meaning after we’ve read the story by the end.

Tips

While reading the literary works included in this unit,

• think of the title choices in terms of their functions;

• consider their appropriateness, explain how the titles suit the stories and poems you’ve read.

Unit 9 Symbols

Literary symbols are objects, characters, actions used to embody other things or ideas.

How do you recognise symbols in literature?

Step 1

Recognize the signs.

• Repetition Notice the frequency an object or character is mentioned in a piece of literature – if it is mentioned often, it is probably important.

• Description Look at how much detail is used in describing an object.

• Prominent placement Focus on the title, beginning, turning point, ending.

Step 2

Familiarize yourself with the author’s work and style.

A symbol in a piece of literature often represents an important issue of the time in which the author lived, or has personal significance to the writer. Edgar Allan Poe, for example, is well-known for the tragedy he suffered during his lifetime. His stories and poetry often included dark imagery and death which were undoubtedly symbolic of the events in his life.

Step 3

Trust your feelings.

If an image or object described by the author makes you react in a certain way, you are probably on to something, never discredit your own feelings. It is very likely that the author planted the image in the work in a particular way to alert the reader that a symbol is important.

Tips

In the stories and poem included in this unit,

• try to recognize objects, characters, actions that acquire symbolic value;

• notice the various ways they affect the literary works.

Unit 10 Allusion and Intertextuality

Allusion is a brief reference in a literary work to a person, place, thing or passage in another literary work. It is a literary device that stimulates ideas, associations, and extra information in the reader’s mind with only a word or two.

How do allusions affect the reader?

Allusions help the reader to visualize what’s happening by evoking a mental picture. But the reader must be aware of the allusion and must be familiar with what it alludes to.

Where do allusions come from?

• the Bible;

• Greek and Roman classical history and mythology;

• famous historical characters or events;

• well-known fictional characters or episodes.

Look at the following examples:

• “He was a remarkable Prime Minister with feet of clay”. The reference here is to the Bible (Daniel 2: 31-45), using the words “feet of clay”, which suggests the Prime Minister has roots with common people, with weaknesses just like all others.

• “Christy didn't like to spend money. She was no Scrooge, but she seldom purchased anything except the bare necessities”. Did you spot the allusion to Scrooge? That name should bring to mind an image of someone who “pinches pennies” and hoards money with a passion. But the allusion only works if the reader is familiar with Charles Dickens’ story “A Christmas Carol”.

See if you can spot the allusions in this paragraph:

“Marty’s presence at the dance was definitely a Catch 22 situation; if he talked to Cindy she’d be mad at him, but if he ignored her there’d be hell to pay. His anger bubbled to the surface. He realized that by coming to the dance he had brought his problems with him like a Trojan Horse, and he could only hope he would be able to keep them bottled up”.

The first allusion is to the novel “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller; this should suggest a situation where there is a problem with no right answer ... whatever you do will be wrong. If you have read Heller’s novel, you know exactly how Marty is feeling!

The second reference is to the Trojan Horse from Virgil’s Aeneid, which chronicles the Greeks conquering Troy by giving a gift of a horse to their enemies and filling the belly of the horse with warriors. A vivid image ... if you recognize it.

There is also a reference to “hell”, which evokes images from the Bible of something definitely unpleasant.

Finally, there is a very subtle reference to “bottling up” problems, which might suggest an image of tightly containing something, although there is no direct connection to anything.

Intertextuality is the shaping of texts’ meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another.

Intertext is a prior text a writer draws on in order to bring new meanings and angles to the surface.

Some examples of intertextuality in literature include:

• Ulysses (1918) by James Joyce: A retelling of Homer’s Odyssey, set in Dublin.

• Perelandra (1943) by C. S. Lewis: A retelling of the story of Genesis, also leaning on Milton’s Paradise Lost, but set on the planet Venus.

• East of Eden (1952) by John Steinbeck: Another retelling of the story of Genesis, set in the Salinas Valley of Northern California.

• A Thousand Acres (1991) by Jane Smiley: A retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, set in rural Iowa.

• The Dead Fathers Club (2006) by Matt Haig: A retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, set in modern England.

Intertextuality is at work when some elements of a prior work (intertext) are lifted out of their context and reused. Notice the ways writers draw on intertexts:

• An author takes the skeletal form of a work and places it in a new context without ridiculing it. An example is James Joyce’s Ulysses, which incorporates elements of Homer’s Odyssey in a twentieth-century Irish context. The situation described in the latter functions as a metaphor.

• Characters or settings belonging to one work are used in a humorous or ironic way in another, such as the transformation of minor characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Shakespeare’s Hamlet into the principal characters in a comedic perspective on the same events in the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. The situation alluded to functions ironically, as a foil.

Tips

In the literary works you’re going to read,

• be alert to allusions;

• try to recognize the intertexts the authors draw on;

• notice whether the situations alluded to provide a metaphoric element or become a foil.